Post-game vs. San Antonio

Well no one saw this coming. The Sonics got pounded yet again by a Spurs team that seemed to go through the motions and just wanted to make sure they didn’t get anyone hurt. No San Antonio player looked more than 28 minutes, hence no one scored more than Bruce Bowen’s 18 points. But efficiently, and almost cruelly, they put up 110 points on the Sonics without really exerting much effort.

The most discouraging part of Tuesday’s loss was Seattle’s refusal to rebound. Two nights after collecting 26 in a loss to Denver, they grabbed 22, three short of tying the club record for fewest in a game. Chris Wilcox muscled his way for TWO in 29 minutes while Nick Collison led the Sonics with four. The Sonics usually back down to bigger and stronger teams, but this is discouraging to say the least. If the Sonics are going to give this type of performance for the remaining eight games, they are going to get crushed by teams jockeying for playoff position. One thing Bob Hill’s teams did throughout the season was play hard and at times play well, but they relented Tuesday to a more aggressive team.

Reserve center Fabricio Oberto pulled down 10 rebounds in 26 minutes while 3-point specialist Matt Bonner, who wouldn’t even start if he played at Florida right now, added nine in 23 minutes. The Spurs won because they hit seven more 3-pointers — good for 21 more points for you math majors — and made eight more free throws. So basically, the Spurs were better from the outside and got to the free throw line because they were more aggressive inside. The strategy is the same for the Spurs: run their offense, beat up teams on defense and win the boards. It is what has won championships and something the Sonics needs learn from and finally begin to digest themselves.